American Airlines fares back on Orbitz after deal

NEW YORK -- After a three-day public tiff, American Airlines fares have returned to Orbitz.

Orbitz said Friday that it has reached an agreement with the airline that will allow it to continue selling American Airlines and US Airways tickets on its websites.

Terms of their agreement were not disclosed. The online travel company said that tickets previously bought on its sites are still valid.

American, which combined with US Airways in December, pulled flight listings from Orbitz sites as part of a dispute over the fees Orbitz charges to list and sell the flights. American said on Tuesday that it had already dropped its fares from Orbitz.com, CheapTickets, and ebookers.com, and said that US Airways would do the same on Monday. That drove Orbitz shares down about 5 percent Tuesday.

The dispute mostly affected customers booking leisure travel in the U.S. because the Orbitz sites continued to sell American flights listed by the company's code-sharing partners, including British Airways and Japan Airlines. Corporate customers also would have still been able to book travel through Orbitz.

Orbitz Worldwide Inc. shares rose 3.4 percent to $8.20 on Friday, but were still off 4 percent for the week. The Chicago company's stock rose 5 cents to $8.25 in aftermarket trading. Fort Worth, Texas-based American Airlines Group Inc. stock dipped 4 cents to $38.84 in extended trading Friday. Its shares have lost 2.4 percent this week.